Helena, If you want anything from my salvia collection to get your garden started again, it's yours, let me know, ok? I deployed to Houston Texas on 9/4/05 for 11 days for response to Katrina. I was part of a preventive medicine team charged with helping to keep the evacuees healthy in the Astrodome and near by shelters at Reliant Park. Joseph

I've been making these B&B Pickles for years. I think they are every bit as good as what I spent hours making from scratch. This takes minutes instead of hours. You need to find a kind of Dill Pickle that doesn't use garlic. The only one I've found is Vlasik, and I try to find the ones that are already sliced into rings. I use the same jar in which they came. Bread & Butter Pickles (out of Dill ) 1 qt jar of dill Pickles (NO GARLIC!), drained, rinsed, and cut as desired. 2 cups sugar 2/3 cup cider vinegar 2 Tlbsp. pickling spices Boil mixture of sugar, vinegar and spices for one minute; remove from heat and allow to sit for a few minutes so the spices can better infuse their flavor. Return pickles to the original jar or any other. You'll need to strain out the spices as you pour the spiced liquid over the pickles to cover. Re-lid the jar. This tastes best when allowed to sit for a day or two before eating. Keep refrigerated. You can also use this for Pickled Beets by doing the same as above only using 2- 15oz jars/cans of sliced beets, drained Hope you like them as much as we do. CAKate

I've been thinking about you, Anglophilia, and wondering if you were okay. I'm so sorry to hear you're not doing well. Prayers for remission and better health. Hope you feel better very soon.

Roarah, I have tried to get her moved, but I got nowhere. But I'm okay with that because I now have a fab neurologist (Dr. Patel) on her team. Even though he is a consulting md, he sees her daily and then--are you ready for this?--HE CALLS ME! Daily! He said elderly fall patients are always in trauma. We're sttill hoping for a transfer of care, but I am ok with the current status.